This invention relates to a connector provided with a spacer for retaining metal terminals (received in a connector housing) in a double manner.
A related connector includes a connector housing having a plurality of terminal receiving chambers, and metal terminals received respectively in the terminal receiving chambers, and each terminal receiving chamber has a lance formed integrally on an inner surface thereof. When the metal terminal is received in the terminal receiving chamber, the lance retains this metal terminal against withdrawal.
However, in recent years, with the advance of a multi-pole design of connectors, a sufficient retaining force to retain a metal terminal can not be provided only by a lance, and therefore there has been adopted a structure in which a spacer separate from a connector housing is attached to the connector housing so as to retain the metal terminals in a double manner (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).
[Patent Literature 1] JP-A-2000-36352
The related connector disclosed in Patent Literature 1 has a problem that the thickness of the spacer in a direction of extending of terminal receiving chambers (that is, in a forward-rearward direction of the connector housing) is increased. The spacer is adapted to be mounted in a spacer mounting hole (formed in the connector housing) first in a provisionally-retained condition and then in a completely-retained condition. Therefore, the spacer need to include retaining projections for achieving the provisionally-retained condition and the completely-retained condition, and bending spaces for allowing the elastic deformation (or bending) of those portions of the spacer having the retaining projections, and as a result of formation of these portions, the thickness of the spacer is increased accordingly.
In recent years, connectors have been more and more required to have a compact design and a space-saving design, and when the thickness of the spacer is large, it is difficult to meet this requirement, and therefore the inventor of the present invention thought it necessary to improve the structure of the spacer.